Just picked this up yesterday from a camping store that just opened near me. Cheapest LED headlamp they had, I'd never seen one before I saw them hanging in the store. But once I turned the thing around to see how big it was, it was love at first sight.
Testing it out after dark, I got a feel for its designed purpose. It's marketed as a 'It just hit the fan' light that you can let sit around for a decade thanks to the lithium cells. It comes with the hard, watertight case because backpackers could benefit from keeping this buried in thei packs until their primary lights bite the dust. The features favor the 'Get out of there' mindset rather than 'Let's go hiking all night'. On fresh batteries, even though it isn't regulated...This little guy is BRIGHT! Really shocked me.
That was the Economy Mode. The 'bright' mode...Just wow, Nichia at its best.
They clock it at forty five hours in the Economy mode, thirty five on high. That's far more runtime than you need to get out of the woods, administer first aid, or help everyone through a fire escape possibly carrying an injured person.
Considering the light, strap, and case are about the size of a full-size headlamps light body without strap, sarcificing full size cells for being able to take this thing anywhere is a fine choice.
Would I rely on this as a primary hiking light? No, that's what the bigger lights are for, they don't market this as an emergency light so they can slap on the Red Cross logo for appearances. I've heard that some ultralight hikers only use Photons. Those guys, will love this thing and find it fine the way it is.
I'm a fan of Photons and their clips, but this little guy beats them out with the two beam types, better strap and clip stability, output, and runtime. For a year now I've been known for clipping a Photon to a bandana for a headlamp, but trying the strapless E+Lite on the bandanna I was wearing that day, it held much tighter and was easier to move around with the ball socket.
I give the Photon a few main edges...magnets, the EDC ability, variable output at your choosing, and pirce.
I have enough coin cells around that I wouldn't feel guilty using this darling in a blackout or working on something in the dark, but I'm also considering it an essential new addition to what I call my 'splat vest', a serious survival kit packed into a Ranger-style pocketed vest. Just a week before I found this light, I was griping to myself that I couldn't fit a headlamp into it comfortably, and that the Photon/Clip combo just didn't seem reliabe enough.
It's 27 grams with strap, 46 in its little case. You could very easily carry this thing without the strap and case if you use the clip on a bandanna or hat brim, it's designed so you can flip it around on the socket to protect the LEDs, plus, the switch locks out very firmly for long storage.
I'd feel very safe giving these as gifts to people who don't own any headlamps. The Photon is the perfect anywhere-EDC, this E+Lite is the perfect headlamp for stowing away until you need it. Perfect car light, backpacker gear, even in an EDC bag or purse it wouldn't be noticed.
It's also one of the first headlamps that doesn't make you look like a coal miner for some reason, I think it's the small size combined wit how thin it is. When my girl first saw it clipped to my bandanna she commented that it was almost stylish in a geeky way.
